Electrode for secondary batteries



(N0 M d 1.)

6 J. 'Y. BBADBURY & F. J. STONE. ELECTRODE FOR SECONDARY BATTERIES.

No. 441,818. Patented Dec. 2, 1890.

TH: nnmus warns co mam-arms vnsmnamu n o UNITED -STATES PATENT OFFICE.

J OSEPII Y. BRADBURY AND FRANK J. STONE, OF LOlVELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

ELECTRODE FOR SECONDARY BATTERIES.

SPEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 441,818, dated December2, 1890.

Application filed November 16, 1889. Serial No. 330,514. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that we, JOSEPH Y. BRADBURY and FRANK J. STONE, bothcitizens of the United States, residing at Lowell, in the county ofMiddlesex and Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a certain newand useful Improvement in Electrodes for StorageBatteries, of which thefollowing is a specification.

Our invention relates to electrodes for storage or secondary batteries;and it consists in an electrode comprising a plate of supportingmaterial having its opposite faces formed into alternate projections anddepressions for the reception of active material, two opposite sides ofeach of said depressions being open and laterally adjacent projectionsopening into each other, and said plate being preferably formed ofstrips of supporting material arranged side by side, and each offsetalternately in opposite directions for the reception of active material.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is an isometric perspective viewof an electrode constructed according to our improvement; Fig. 2, anisometric perspective View of two non-adjacent strips of the supportingmaterial and some pencils of active material arranged in the offsets ofsaid strips 5 Fig. 3,an isometric perspective View of parts of somestrips of supporting material formed from a single sheet of metal andnot entirely separated from each other in the process of formation.

In Fig.1, A represents the frame, which may be made of the sameconducting material as the supporting-strips, preferably thin,sheetlead, a strip a. of which is turned at each edge to form flanges a,which are then cut vertically at a to allow the portions of the flangesadjacent to the cuts a to pass each other, and thereby to allow thestrip a to be bent into the form of a rectangle. The ends of the strip aafter being so bent are united by solder, and the overlapping parts ofthe flanges at the corners of the frame may also be united by solder, orin both the cases the parts may be burned together instead of beingsoldered; but before the frame is thus like the different-coloredsquares of acheckerboard andthe depressions in each strip opening intothe depressions of the contiguous strips.

The strips 1) b may be separately formed and slightly united by solderor burned to gether where they come in contact with each other. It ispossible, however, to make all the strips of a single electrode from asingle sheet by punches arranged above and below or on opposite sides ofthe sheet, which alternately raise and depress the surface of the sheetand separate the strips from each other,

' except where the portions of contiguous strips after bending lie inthe same plane, as at b in Fig. 3; but this specific construction is notherein claimed. The ends of the strips may be bent or rolled over, asshown at b in Fig. 3, to stiffen the upper and lower edges of the plateB, whether they are formed from a sheet without separation from eachother, or whether they are separately formed, in which last case theends of the strips may be wrapped around one or more strips of lead andburned or soldered to said last-named strips.

In the depressions of the plate B, formed in either of the ways above'described, may be placed the active material by any wellknown process,as in the form of paste or in the form of powder, compactly pressed intothe depressions of the plate. \Ve prefer, however, to make the activematerial into bars or pencils 0, as shown in Fig. 2, by compressing saidmaterial in molds under hydraulic or other heavy pressure, and theninserting said pencils endwise into the side of the plate, so thatcontiguous strips of the supporting material pass alternately in frontand back of said pencils, and the pencils Will thereby be retained inplace and will be prevented from moving endwise by the frame after saidplate B is placed in the frame. r

The plate B may be formed by casting in a mold, preferably underpressure.

The pencils are represented in the drawings as being rectangular incross-section but obviously the shape of their cross-section isimmaterial, as the pencils may be round, triangular, or hexagonal, orotherwise shaped in a cross -section, Without departing from the spiritof our invention; but they are preferably rectangular in cross-section,merely because this shape allows of a great amount of active material inan electrode of a given uniform thickness.

We claim as our invention 1. An electrode for secondary batteries,comprising a plate of supporting material having lateral perforationsand openings at intervals from said perforations through the faces ofsaid plate, said perforations and openings being adapted for thereception of active material, and the faces of said plate being unbrokenexcept by said openings, said openings and the closed spaces in eachface alternating With each other like the differentcolored squares of achecker-board, as and for the purpose specified.

2. An electrode for secondary batteries, comprising a plate ofsupporting material having lateral perforations and openings atintervals leading from said perforations through the opposite faces ofsaid plate, said openings alternating with each other on the oppositefaces of said plate, and said perforations and openings being for thereception of active material, as and for the purpose specified.

3. An electrode for secondary batteries, comprising a plate ofsupporting material having its opposite faces formed into alternateprojections and depressions for the reception of active material, twoopposite sides of each of said depressions being open, thelaterallyadjacent depressions opening into each other, as and for thepurpose specified.

4. An electrode for secondary batteries, comprising a plate consistingof strips of supporting. material arranged edge to edge and each offsetalternately in opposite direct'ions' for the reception of activematerial, as and for the purpose specified.

5. An electrode for secondary batteries, consisting of a plate ofsupporting material having its opposite faces formed into alternateprojections and depressions, two opposite sides of each of saiddepressions being open, the laterally-adjacent depressions opening intoeach other, and pencils or bars of active material inserted in saiddepressions, as and for the purpose specified.

6.'An electrode for secondary batteries;

consisting of a plate made up of strips of supporting material arrangededge to edge and each offset alternately in opposite directions, andpencils or bars of active material inserted in said oifsets, as and forthe purpose specified.

In Witness whereof We have signed this specification, in the presence oftwo attesting Witnesses, this 7th day of November, A. D. 1889.

JOSEPH Y. BRADBURY. FRANK J. STONE.

Witnesses:

ALBERT M. MOORE, JOHN I. COGGESHALL.

